Seven-string guitar

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Seven-string acoustic guitar as it is used in Brazilian choro music.

A seven-string guitar is a guitar with seven strings instead of the usual six. Such guitars are not as common as the six string variety but a minority of guitarists have utilised them for at least 150 years. Some types of these instruments are specific to certain cultures (i.e. the Russian and Brazilian guitars).

There are eight-string and ten string guitars in use as well, and they are also relatively uncommon.

1 History and construction
2 Tuning
3 The Russian Guitar
4 The Brazilian Guitar
5 The Electric Guitar
- 5.1 Hollowbody and Semi-hollow Electric Seven-String Guitars
- 5.2 Solidbody Electric Seven-String Guitars
6 Other seven-string guitars
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] History and construction

In the renaissance period the guitar was generally strung with four pairs of strings, termed courses. By the baroque period it had five courses and used a variety of tunings, some of the tunings re-entrant. During the eighteenth century six courses became common and the modern practice of using six single strings became the standard practice after 1800. These developments illustrate an ongoing desire on behalf of players to increase the range of the instrument. Seven-string guitars arose from such a desire and have been in use for over 150 years. French guitarist Napoleon Coste (1805-1883) composed works with a seven-string guitar specifically in mind.

Extra strings are usually added to extend the bass range of the modern six string guitar. These strings are commonly added in two different ways. The first and most common construction is to increase the width of the fingerboard such that the extra string (or strings) may be stopped by the left hand. The second method is to leave the fingerboard unchanged such that the extra bass strings lie next to the existing bass strings and free of the fingerboard in the same fashion in which the archlute and theorbo are constructed. Such unfrettable bass strings were historically known as diapasons or bourdons. The Italian guitarist Mario Maccaferri (b 1899) was a celebrated advocate of the second type of construction.

[edit] Tuning

The 7th string is positioned at the low end of the guitar, preceding the low E. The note is normally a B. This means standard six string tuning EADGBe becomes standard seven string tuning BEADGbe.

[edit] The Russian Guitar

Main article: Russian guitar

The Russian guitar, a seven-string acoustic guitar tuned to the Open G tuning, (DGBDGbd) arrived in the beginning of the 19th century in Russia, most probably as a development of the kobza and the baroque lute. It is known in Russia as the semistrunnaya gitara (семиструнная гитара) or affectionately as the semistrunka (семиструнка).

Its invention is attributed to Andrei Sychra, who also wrote a method for the guitar, as well as over one thousand compositions, seventy-five of which were republished in the 1840s by Stellovsky, then again in the 1880s by Gutheil. Some of these were published again in the Soviet Union in 1926.

This type of guitar has been called a 'Russian guitar', as it has been primarily played in Russia and later the Soviet Union.

The Russian version of the seven-string guitar has been used by professionals, because of its great flexibility, but has also been popular with amateurs for accompaniment (especially Russian bards) due to the relative simplicity of some basic chords and the ease of playing alternating bass lines.

The Russian guitar is traditionally played without a pick, using fingers for either strumming or picking.

Tuning of the Russian guitar

An F# major chord

A B minor chord

[edit] The Brazilian Guitar

The Brazilian 7-string guitar is an acoustic guitar used primarily in choro and samba. It was introduced to Brazil in the early 20th century as a steel string guitar. The style of "baixaria" counterpoint and accompaniment technique was developed throughout the 20th century, especially by Dino 7 Cordas and Raphael Rabello. In the early 1980s, guitarist Luiz Otavio Braga had a nylon string version made, and this has become the norm for most contemporary choro musicians. The Brazilian 7-string guitar is typically tuned like a classical guitar, but with an additional C below the low E as follows: C-E-A-D-G-b-e; although some musicians tune the C down to a B resulting in B-E-A-D-G-b-e.

[1] Pictures

[edit] The Electric Guitar

[edit] Hollowbody and Semi-hollow Electric Seven-String Guitars

In the United States, the jazz guitarist George Van Eps had a seven-string guitar built for him by Epiphone Guitars in the late 1930s. The guitar was basically a regular electric guitar with an additional bass string, usually tuned to A.

Several jazz guitarists began using seven string guitars after Van Eps, including Bucky Pizzarelli, Howard Alden, Ron Eschete, Lenny Breau, and John Pizzarelli, who is the author of the Foxwoods Casino theme and is the son of jazz legend Bucky Pizzarelli.

The first seven string guitars were built in the "hollowbody" or "semi-hollow" archtop styles, where the guitar has a central resonating chamber, or a central block with resonant chambers on the sides, respectively. This gave the guitar the dark woodiness, breath, and richness that is associated with traditional "jazz" tone, but made it too prone to feedback to be practical for rock guitar.

[edit] Solidbody Electric Seven-String Guitars

The solid-body electric seven-string guitar first entered commercial production in 1990,^{[citation needed]} with the introduction of Steve Vai's Ibanez signature model, the Ibanez Universe. At the time, Vai was heavily into numerology, and in particular was drawn to the number 7. Vai was drawn to the idea for much of the same reasons seven string classical and jazz players were - the extended range the additional string offered. After initial experimentation with a high A, a low B was added as the high A proved to be too prone to breaking (George Lynch was experimenting with seven string designs independently at this time as well, also tuned to high A, but opted not to pursue development largely due to issues with an experimental moveable pickup system). Vai began touring with Whitesnake with a seven string prototype, and then used the guitars heavily on what is considered to be a landmark instrumental rock album, his 1990 release "Passion and Warfare."

In the early 1990s, several other heavy metal guitarists began using seven-string instruments (notably John Petrucci of Dream Theater and Trey Azagthoth and Erik Rutan of Morbid Angel), seeing the possibility for detuned riffing while preserving the full upper range of the guitar for solos. However, the seven string guitar failed to really catch on at this phase in its development, and the Universe model was discontinued briefly in 1995.

Beginning in the late 1990s, the instrument saw a resurgence of sorts when nu-metal bands (such as Korn and Limp Bizkit) reintroduced seven string guitars to rock music. Capitalizing on the massive low end produced by the 7th string (typically a low B), these bands fused alternative metal stylings with rap and grunge influences. This period marked the highwater point in the popularity of the seven string guitar, as many manufacturers jumped on the seven string bandwagon that had previously stayed clear (including such "traditional" brands as Fender subsidiary Squier and Gibson subsidiary Epiphone), and manufacturers who had been producing sevens expanded their offerings. The trend eventually passed, but many guitarists were introduced to the extended range offered by a seven string guitar during this period who might not have otherwise been. This was somewhat offset by a growing stigma that a seven string guitar was a "nu-metal" instrument, fit only for heavy riffing. This was ironic as both Korn guitarists remember being told in their early days that the seven string guitar couldn't be used for riffing, as it was seen as a shredding guitar at the time.

Today, the seven string has emerged as somewhat of a niche instrument. Drop-tuned six string guitars have taken the places of 7's for bands that primarily engage in low-end riffing, and the seven has begun to grow in popularity amongst many of the same sort of bands who were using them in the early '90s — progressive-oriented metal guitarists (such as Jeff Loomis of Nevermore) who wanted to play high melodies and solos over deep riffs. Additionally, seven (and more) string guitars are becoming popular on the cutting edge of the "shred" movements by players such as Rusty Cooley, Francesco Fareri, Ricky Graham, Ste Platt and Marcel Coenen.

For information on tuning the guitar, see [2].

[edit] Other seven-string guitars

In the early 2000s, Roger McGuinn (renowned for his skills on the twelve-string guitar and for his long association with The Byrds) worked with C. F. Martin & Company to develop a seven-string folk guitar. McGuinn's guitar (currently being marketed by Martin) is tuned the same as a standard folk guitar with steel strings, but the third (G) string is augmented with a sympathetic string, resulting in a single unison course at G. The intention was to afford the six-string player the chance to play "jangly" twelve-string style lead guitar.